Colonoscopy prep

J

JOhnH

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Has the prep procedure changed? I've had colonoscopies before and I remember what a pain the prep was the day before, with the clear liquid diet. And that awful concoction they make you drink that cleans you out.

But this time I have to go on a very low fiber diet for two days before the liquid diet day. They say I can't eat any of the things you are supposed to eat fo r colon health.
And I can't have alcohol for 5 days!

Is this something new?

Edit: I don't know how the title got misspelled like that, and I don't know how to fix it.
 
No diet stuff for my prep, just avoid cherries and beets. Two doses of MoviPrep the night before and there's nothing left.
 
The "end" result of the prep is the same, but there are a couple different ways to get there. Ask the doc for options, but some do seem to have their favorites.
 
I have it every 5 years due to family history. Don't recall the fiber deal from last time. The prep stuff is a little better tasting but I just chug it down to get it over with.
First one I had the Doc didn't knock me out. He had a monitor and said you can watch if you like. I did, kinda weird but cool, like traveling in a pink tunnel lol. The last 3-4 the Doc knocked me out so no TV time.
 
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I think they told me no nuts a few days before. I don't recall it being to onerous.
The day before you go on the SUPREP (or the competing product, the misnamed GoLightly). Two doses of that and nothing but clear liquids (clear soup, coffee w/o cream, etc... nothing red in color, i.e., no cherry jello).

One of the nurses early on clued me in that you should make up the prep juice AS COLD AS POSSIBLE. Doesn't taste nearly as bad that way.
 
[QUOTE="flyingron, post: 2368017, member: 3093

One of the nurses early on clued me in that you should make up the prep juice AS COLD AS POSSIBLE. Doesn't taste nearly as bad that way.[/QUOTE]

Haha always chilled it and it still taste terrible.
 
Trying to remember, but I'm pretty sure my prep was a quadruple dose of Dulcolax, followed by a full bottle of Miralax mixed into a quart or two or three or four of Gatorade. I don't think I had any dietary restrictions prior, but whatever Gatorade or PowerAde I used could not contain any red dye. After all that was finished, I could have broth and any other clear liquids or sports drinks. I am pretty sure that I got dehydrated because I ended up with a really bad headache - as far as the prep went, it wasn't as bad as I expected. I've had worse days.
 
GoLytely, SUPREP, and MIRALAX are indeed all Polyethelene Glycol (i.e., non-toxic antifreeze). The only real difference is that the first two are labeled for colonoscopy prep dosages.

Some docs precede the PEG with another laxative just for patient comfort.
 
flyingron said:
GoLytely, SUPREP, and MIRALAX are indeed all Polyethelene Glycol (i.e., non-toxic antifreeze). The only real difference is that the first two are labeled for colonoscopy prep dosages.

Some docs precede the PEG with another laxative just for patient comfort.
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Yes, there is a reason they still give you anti-nausea medicine to take before drinking that glop.

I would think there has to be something different...
 
bflynn said:
Yes, there is a reason they still give you anti-nausea medicine to take before drinking that glop.

I would think there has to be something different...
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A high colonic makes a bit of a mess...
 
bflynn said:
I would think there has to be something different...
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There is something new and different. Ask about a product called Prepopik. Much simpler and tolerable than the older preps, although you may need to pay more out-of-pocket for it.
Jon
 
I drank the gallon of whatever prep liquid they provided. A couple of hours drinking the fluid, a couple of hours back and forth to the bathroom, and off to the clinic in the morning. No big deal, IMO.
 
4CornerFlyer said:
There is something new and different. Ask about a product called Prepopik. Much simpler and tolerable than the older preps, although you may need to pay more out-of-pocket for it.
Jon
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Prepopik is what I was prescribed. My insurance companies pharmacy was going to charge me $120 for it. But the gastroenterologist office gave me a form and a phone number and i ordered it for $50.
 
I had my last one amount 8 years ago. I swore for the next one I was going to lighten my diet a few days before the next time. More soup / lite stuff a day or so sooner would have been more tolerable.
 
I have had three already due to family history. The first time I misread the directions. I took the prep the night before with the expected results. In the morning, I read the instructions as take the 2nd half of the prep medicine an hour before your appointment, when it actually said take it an hour before you LEAVE for your appointment. My wife kept saying "we have to go, we are going to be late". I told her, "we aren't going ANYWHERE right now!" Good times :)
 
I was waiting my turn, and got to hear some of the nurses complaining about another patient the doc had to reschedule because he, or she, didn't follow the prep orders. This is one thing you want to get right the first time and not something you want the doc to find out when the procedure begins.
 
Matthew said:
I was waiting my turn, and got to hear some of the nurses complaining about another patient the doc had to reschedule because he, or she, didn't follow the prep orders. This is one thing you want to get right the first time and not something you want the doc to find out when the procedure begins.
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This. Fer sure and fer certain.

And baby wipes, two packs of baby wipes.
 
My last two were preceeded by MoviPrep. Hilarious name. Pretty tame tasting.

I've always thought that eating raw oysters at NASA 1 a couple of days before the procedure would be a good way to go. They sure cleaned me out in 1998 anyway. I couldn't look at an oyster for a few years after that one!
 
Dave Theisen said:
I have had three already due to family history. The first time I misread the directions. I took the prep the night before with the expected results. In the morning, I read the instructions as take the 2nd half of the prep medicine an hour before your appointment, when it actually said take it an hour before you LEAVE for your appointment. My wife kept saying "we have to go, we are going to be late". I told her, "we aren't going ANYWHERE right now!" Good times :)
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Yeah what's with that? We had an hour's drive through empty country when Mark had his and the instructions said drink the 2nd 4 hours before the procedure which would have been 3 hours before we left and after the first one he was definitely still going after 3 hours. Luckily I had foreseen this situation and called the nurse the day before. It took a minute before she got what I was trying to say but when she did she agreed it would be a problem and told me to have him back it up to 6 hours.

I can't imagine one hour? And why the difference? Are the formulas that different? Or just different doctors give different instructions?
 
Colonoscopy prep put me pretty permanently off Gatorade. Can't have a thread about this without Dave Barry's take. Of course, I couldn't eat for better than week after, but my case was pretty unusual. First time in my whole adult life that I was worried about loosing too much weight.
 
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timwinters said:
My last two were preceeded by MoviPrep. Hilarious name. Pretty tame tasting.

I've always thought that eating raw oysters at NASA 1 a couple of days before the procedure would be a good way to go. They sure cleaned me out in 1998 anyway. I couldn't look at an oyster for a few years after that one!
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Yeah, I was dreading the prep, just...because. But after however many hours it took, I realized I'd had worse Wednesdays after Taco Tuesdays and survived just fine. The rest of the procedure was pretty much like everyone says: Close your eyes, open your eyes, done.
 
I don't recall using anything other than what you can buy over the counter for prep. Seems as if I got a list of stuff to buy. I didn't find it nearly the ordeal as what was described to me by others beforehand.
 
Matthew said:
Yeah, I was dreading the prep, just...because. But after however many hours it took, I realized I'd had worse Wednesdays after Taco Tuesdays and survived just fine. The rest of the procedure was pretty much like everyone says: Close your eyes, open your eyes, done.
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Yes the procedure itself is nothing. But for me the worst part is not being able to eat. I do not function well at all when I'm hungry and I do not sleep. So I had two days of not getting a d@mn thing done and being miserable from lack of sleep. Then the day of the procedure I get nothing done because I'm groggy from the sedation. I've only had one so far but it killed three days of my life. I am not looking forward to the next one.
 
Norman said:
Borescopes are for looking at cylinders. I'll be damned if any doctor will shove up my a..
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There's nothing to it Norm. Colon cancer can almost be prevented with check ups. The worse part, and it ain't that bad, is the solution to you drink prior to having the procedure. You're in and out, and really I've had no after effects. If there's anything in your colon the Doc removes them right then and there, and I've again had no after effects. Think I had 3-4 polyps removed last time. Do it Norm, for your health.
 
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Rushie said:
Yes the procedure itself is nothing. But for me the worst part is not being able to eat. I do not function well at all when I'm hungry and I do not sleep. So I had two days of not getting a d@mn thing done and being miserable from lack of sleep. Then the day of the procedure I get nothing done because I'm groggy from the sedation. I've only had one so far but it killed three days of my life. I am not looking forward to the next one.
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For me:
prep day: no food, and I didn't drink much or have much broth. The salty broth also helped dehydrate me. I didn't get much sleep that night, either, because I was hungry and had a headache from being dehydrated.

day of: got the procedure early. My wife drove me home and we picked up lunch on the way back. The meds did mess with my head for a few hours, too: "Did I eat lunch yet?", "Yes!", repeat every 10 minutes for two hours.

So, yes, the procedure itself was over in the blink of an eye, but it did cost me 2 days.
 
For those that say "no after affects" are forgetting about the farting...
 
Matthew said:
For me:
prep day: no food, and I didn't drink much or have much broth. The salty broth also helped dehydrate me. I didn't get much sleep that night, either, because I was hungry and had a headache from being dehydrated.

day of: got the procedure early. My wife drove me home and we picked up lunch on the way back. The meds did mess with my head for a few hours, too: "Did I eat lunch yet?", "Yes!", repeat every 10 minutes for two hours.

So, yes, the procedure itself was over in the blink of an eye, but it did cost me 2 days.
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Maybe my next one will be better. I don't know why I remember no food for two days, I'm sure that wasn't the case, except I often stay up very late and eat after midnight so I might have missed half my day's food on that day plus the no nuts, etc., for 3-4 days prior.

Forgetting lunch, ha ha ha! Driving Mark home from his, he kept trying to navigate me and telling me to take all the wrong exits, when I had Googled street view the whole route and knew exactly what I was doing. Plus Siri was yapping it. :lol: Bless his heart. You're on drugs, dear, just chill and let me drive. Really hard for him because he ALWAYS drives when we're in the car together.
 
Rushie said:
Yes the procedure itself is nothing. But for me the worst part is not being able to eat. I do not function well at all when I'm hungry and I do not sleep. So I had two days of not getting a d@mn thing done and being miserable from lack of sleep. Then the day of the procedure I get nothing done because I'm groggy from the sedation. I've only had one so far but it killed three days of my life. I am not looking forward to the next one.
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The after-effects of the sedation were one of the reasons that I passed on it. I wasted enough time on the hopper during the prep. I didn't want to waste another day drooling on myself while the sedative wore off. Besides, I really don't like being sedated. I'd make a terrible drug addict.

Despite the horrifying descriptions of the procedure that the doctors who refused to do it without sedation described, it wasn't a big deal. I've had worse cases of gas. Plus I got a guided tour of my colon; and despite what Jeannette had told me many times, my head was not up there.

I had the procedure done at the Albany Stratton VA Medical Center because they were the closest hospital that would do it without sedation. They told me it's routine for them. Apparently many veterans decline the sedation. I don't know whether that's because veterans are inherently tougher, or because like me they wind up having it done at Stratton because no one else will do it without sedation; but whatever the case, they have it worked out to a science. They know exactly where and when to push, pull, prod, and roll the patient with a minimal amount of discomfort and embarrassment. I have to give them credit. They made it as pleasant as having a 6-foot borescope stuck up your ass could possibly be.

As for the prep itself, it was more of a nuisance than anything else. I wasted a lot of time running between my office and the crapper, but that was the worst of it. I mean, really, it was exactly as expected. I think if you look at it that way, it's not so subjectively bad.

I chose an 8:30 a.m. appointment and pushed the whole prep ordeal up by a few hours so I'd be running on empty, as it were, by bedtime the night before. That allowed me to get a few uninterrupted hours of sleep in before I had to leave. It worked out very well.

Rich
 
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Norman said:
Borescopes are for looking at cylinders. I'll be damned if any doctor will shove up my a..
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Sucks for you if you have any kind of colorectal cancer. Can take something from being an easily remedied condition to the thing you die of. Ejecting gatorade at high velocity out my six is actually a small price to pay for such surety. The after effects were quite unpleasant for me, though. Still worth it. Cancer is way, way worse.
 
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